LA VERNE >> A woman and her husband died following an attack inside their home Friday afternoon, authorities said.
The attack occurred in the 300 block of Roughrider Road in an unincorporated county area near La Verne.
Neighbor Don Mineer identified the couple as Shirley and Troy Isom.
The woman, 74, was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics, according to Lt. Dave Coleman of the sheriff’s Homicide Bureau. Her husband, 89, was found wounded and later succumbed to his injuries.
Though neighbors knew the man as Troy, sheriff’s officials identified hime as Arnie Isom.
Early reports indicated the couple had been stabbed but Coleman declined to discuss the injuries, which were also described by officials as “blunt force trauma.”
A “grounds keeper” called the sheriff’s San Dimas Sheriff’s station after finding the married couple unresponsive inside the home, Coleman said.
Firefighters responded to a rescue call at 1:16 p.m. involving two critically injured patients, according to county fire Capt. Keith Mora.
“We are very early in the investigation,” said Coleman. “It’s an expansive scene.”
The couple were found near the entryway of the home, Coleman said.
Jose Tamayo, a gardener who was working nearby, reported seeing a man exit the property minutes before the incident was discovered.
Tamayo said the man was wearing a green jacket with a hood, a baseball cap and jeans. He said the man picked up a backpack from nearby bushes, put it on and walked away.
Mineer said he saw a similar man walking down the road as he was driving home.
“He wasn’t hurrying, but he wasn’t wasting a lot of time,” Mineer said. “Now that I think about it, he looked like he was trying to be inconspicuous.”
Lorrie Guzzy, who lives on a nearby street, said she saw a man walking up Live Oak Canyon Road toward Roughrider Road between noon and 12:30 p.m. and thought he was suspicious.
“He didn’t look like a hiker,” Guzzy said. “He looked homeless.”
She said another neighbor also saw the man.
“It just didn’t look right. I wish both of us had called (police),” Guzzy said.
The Isoms lived at the home on a private road at the end of Roughrider Road, Mineer said.
“He’s a good guy and a good friend,” Mineer said, adding that Troy was a contractor.
He thinks the couple lived there for about 20 years.
“(Troy) told my wife he had a shotgun loaded by the door. I think I’ll load mine too,” Mineer said.
Deputies initially responding to the incident sought a man seen leaving the area between age 25 and 30, and between 5 feet 7 inches and 5 feet 11 inches tall. He reportedly wore an orange or blue hooded sweatshirt and carried a green or red backpack. Several people matching the description were detained and questioned in the area, but none were linked to the crime.
But homicide investigators would not confirm the description and did not label the suspicious man reported by neighbors as a suspect int he killing.
PHOTO by Jeo Jarzomb
